Life of a Moon-Child
by Minerva
Summary: Prologue to my first sailormoon fan-fic. Birth of serena, some planet history. I do not own any of the characters portrayed in the story, though i have exercised my artistic license in writing it. Don't be too harsh.
1. Default Chapter

She would not scream.   
  
She sat among pillows in a large chamber overlooking the vast kingdom. Even with the small slip she wore and her long hair down, she sweated profusely in the cool air. The need to express her discomfort as well as the ripping pain of her womanhood was great, but she would not dare let the baby's first sound be the shrieking of her mother in pain.   
  
The labor had lasted for almost a full rotation of the Earth. Between contractions the Queen drowsily glance out the window at the onyx Heavens, where the Nine Planets revolved around the Sun.   
  
The birth of this child was the mark of a new era. The Nine Planets had become allies for the first time in millenia. It was agreed that the Planets would live more prosperously in unity than hostility. Queen Serenity's child, conceived by an unknown force when the pact was made, would represent their newfound fellowship, and lead a new generation towards a greater peace.   
  
Another contraction quickly shocked her into reality. It was time to push. Within her was the future of the Moon Kingdom. Her little princess would grow to be the greatest queen in the Moon's history. It would be her baby that would unite the planets of the solar system, her baby that would guide the Universe towards eternal peace.   
  
She held on tightly to someone's hand, not sure whose it was. She willed the baby out with all her strength. As she felt the tearing between her legs, she heard the baby cry out, unpleasantly surprised at the coolness in the air.  
  
"Give me my baby," she said. "Give me my daughter."   
  
A nurse clothed in brilliant white handed her the child wrapped in a bundle.   
  
"Here's your bit of serenity, my queen," said the nurse, referring to the end of the maddening labor.  
  
"Yes. My bit of serenity indeed. Princess Serenity."  
  
The baby looked upon her mother's face, her eyes glittering with tears of joy. The baby's gaze then shifted to the sparkling jewel hung loosely around her mother's neck.   
She felt the stone's incredible power. Though too young to do any complex thinking, she would later realize the true nature of the Silver Crystal. It is the will of its bearer that determines its potency.   
  
This next one of the royal blood of the moon will exceed the expectations of her mother, as well as her own....  



	2. 

*Four years later.*  
  
*It is the Age of the Silver Millenium.*  
  
  
The five children sit in a circle giggling at each other's antics.  
  
The one with blue hair blows into her hands as bubbles emerge from her palms. The tall one pops the bubbles with the sparks that fly from her fingers. The one with the coal-black eyes provides warmth and light with the fire in the cup of her hands. The fair-haired ones play together with their kittens, one dark as night the other bright as day.  
  
The princesses from the Inner Planets had become close companions of the moon princess. The Inners only saw the Outer Planet princesses on occasion--the Outers had a more mysterious upbringing. The royal family of the Blue Planet was completely unknown to them.  
  
Though they were all of equal station, the other princesses knew that there was something more to the moon princess. She seemed somehow above them. She was the only one among them without a father--this meant that she would one day have sole control of the Moon Kingdom, for there was no King to arrange a marriage for her. She would also possess the Imperium Silver Crystal, the most powerful object in existence.   
  
They should have feared her and her power. But she was so gentle and full of love. They could fear nothing from this fair and delicate little being. They were as close as sisters.  
  
  



	3. 

Ten years have passed since that day. The girls are now much older. Each is on her own journey, seeking her identity, her true power. Each knows she must prepare for whatever the furture beholds....  
  
  
  
  
Training begins. 


	4. 

  
  
Absolute stillness. Long, pitch, black hair flowing in the wind, she sat atop a cliff in one of the many mountainous ranges of her Crimson Kingdom. Mars had fasted for days, and now was when her body had begun to feel clear and purified of the strains of the kingdom.   
  
True, she possessed an innate talent for taming fire, though she could not produce much beyond a warm glow.  
  
She knew she had more power within her. By cleansing herself of everything that wore her down, she would leave nothing but the raw fire in her body, and then it would have no choice but to reveal itself.  
  
She leaned back and looked up at the sky, her palms on the ground supporting the rest of her body. It was not so hot on the Moon, she thought, as the sun's glare briefly blinded her. Then again, the cooler weather was unsettling to her. The fire of a thousand suns held more comfort for her than a cool evening during the summer solstice.  
  
The day must have been hotter than she thought. Her palms were scorching on the hot rock   
she laid them upon. Removing them from the rock, she realized the heat was from her own hands.She stood up, her eyes still focused on the palms of her hands. She felt them throbbing, as if something in them demanded freedom.  
  
Thrusting her hands foward, she let out a yelp as a plume of fire burst forth from her palms, the flames hungrily licking the air for the oxygen it so desperately needed. This was part of her challenge she thought. Fire could not survive without oxygen. Her planet was devoid of it; she had to learn to will it out despite this complication.  
  
She had tapped into some of her power. Impressive as this feat had been, she knew there was more. She had barely seen what she was fully capable of. 


	5. Princess Mercury

Darkness.  
  
Silence.  
  
In the presence of these two her mind should have been a turmoil of thoughts running in everything. Yet she too was as silent as the watery abyss where she now sat, motionless.  
  
Princess Mercury focused on her objective. Her mind was as clear as the shallowest waters of her Aquatic Kingdom. Her cerulean hair cut short so that no burden lay on her head--her mind was sharp and had aim. Yet now she found it difficult to free her mind of her books and learning. Sitting now inside the farther reaches of the watery chasm, her aim was clarity in this dark world. Only when she could focus in the pitchest black, in the most deadly of silences could she focus even in Chaos.  
  
She banished all thoughts from her head. She said nothing. She heard nothing. She saw nothing.  
  
A bright light appeared. She thought it might be a fish, of the sort that resided in the depths of the sea, and was blessed with their own form of clarity. Yet the light came closer and closer to her. Could it be that she had become so still that even the most clearly seeing of sea life took no notice of her?  
  
When it actually touched her she realized it was no fish. When it became part of her she realized that this was her clarity. When she was this light, she realized that she was lucidity itself.   
  
The ocean depths became as bright as the shallow waters at noon. The princess began to twirl as she was slowly rising from the nadir of the ocean. Faster and faster she twirled and spun, and when she surfaced she found that she was at the very center of the immense whirlpool she had created. She felt centered. She felt sharp. She was lucidity.  



	6. Princess Jupiter

The sound of rolling thunder was rampant around her. Amidst the storm she stood, strong and unwavering. This was her world. This was her element.  
  
Princess Jupiter watched as bolts of lightning bounced off the ground. She wondered why they did not hit her--she was the only thing in the field for miles around.  
  
Because you are not concentrating, she thought. She had to will the lightning to her. She had to call out to it, plead with it to come to her. Yet they struck elsewhere and she went unnoticed. She wondered why the storm would ignore her in this way. She was not use to such snideness in her Colossal Kingdom. She was princess of the largest planet in the Alliance. She stood tall and majestic as opposed to the other princesses. All looked upon her in respect and admiration.  
  
And yet the lightning, her own element, chose to ignore her commands. Perturbed by the situation, the princess thought of leaving her quest until another day. Her family and friends would not think less of her for it. They would encourage her to try again. She turned to leave.   
As she walked farther and farther from the spot where she had stood, she thought the lightning might finally seek her, remorseful for its uncouth behavior. Yet still the energy had not beckoned to her. Rage suddenly boiled in her veins. How dare it? How dare it ignore royalty?  
  
She ran back to the spot, screaming and snarling until a low guttaral roar emerged from deep within her. She raised her arms, and as she did this realized that she had to follow the lightning. She had to go to it herself. She felt her feet leave the ground, and rose as high as she could will herself to. Lightning strikes the highest point, she thought. The pinnacle.  
  
A bolt of lightning came crashing to the middle of her forehead. I'm going to die, she thought. This is how it will end. The searing heat raced through her body and scrambled her thoughts, yet still she stayed paralyzed in the air, no longer rising, but not falling either.   
  
Then, she managed to focus on one of her thoughts. Serena, she thought. I must protect the Moon Princess. It is my fate as princess of Jupiter. It is my duty as a warrior.   
  
She let out another scream--a war cry. It was a war against the storm that held her now in its clutches. She would tame it, and make it bow to her. The bolt of lightning centered on her forehead suddenly branched out into millions of bolts directed toward the storm. With every spark of power she could muster, she contained the storm in her web of electricity. The web contracted and imploded, destroying the storm with it. She fell slowly to the ground, until she finally felt it under her back. Victory was hers. 


End file.
